“Mexico,” Variam said. “Sonoran Desert.” He was already at work on gate number three. “So, look. I’m kind of noticing that whenever we go on any sort of mission these days, there’s a good fifty-fifty chance that Deleo shows up.”
“Yes.”
“Doesn’t seem like she’s going to stop.”
“Probably not.”
“You considered making her stop?” Variam asked. “I mean, given the body count you’ve been racking up, I know I’m supposed to be telling you to cut back, but what if next time she follows us, we pick out a good spot and . . . ?” He took one hand away from his spell to draw a finger across his neck.
I sighed, letting my breath puff out into the air. It was a little warmer here. “It’s not that simple.”
“Is this because you guys were apprentices together?”
“It’s not that,” I said. I’d been close to Rachel once, but there was precious little of that left. “She’s got a jinn of her own.”
Variam gave me a frown. “Seriously?”
“Meant to tell you earlier, got distracted,” I said. “But yeah, it was back when we were apprentices. Actually, I’m pretty sure it was at the exact point where she stopped being an apprentice.”
The gate opened and dazzling light made me blink before Variam quickly muted the glow, shielding the oval with a veil of magic.
We stepped through into bright daylight. A high sun was beating down from a cloudless sky, and the air was hot and dry. We were standing on a small tumble of rocks in the middle of huge dunes of golden sand. I turned to Variam. “Seriously?”
“What?” Variam said.
“We’re in . . .” I paused. “Saudi Arabia? The Arabian Desert?”
“What’s the problem?”
“What is it with you and deserts?”
“I like deserts.”
I rolled my eyes. “Anyway, the long and the short of it is that the bonding ritual screwed up and it’s one of the reasons she’s so crazy. I’m pretty sure she can’t use the jinn’s powers in any kind of consistent way. But they’re always there as an option, and even when they’re not, she’s got a really good track record of seeing through my bluffs. I don’t want to go toe-to-toe with her if I can avoid it.”
“So the plan is—what? Wait for her to get bored and give up?”
“No,” I said. “I’ve got someone on call who might be able to help. If not . . . she’s my problem. I’ll fix it.”
We stood in the baking heat for a few seconds. The air felt like a furnace, and the glare from the sun made me want to shield my eyes. “You going to be okay?” I asked Variam.
“No angry voice mails,” Variam said. “As long as I get back in the next quarter hour, I’m fine.”
“That wasn’t really what I meant.”
“Yeah, I know.” Variam glanced at me, then looked down, scraping his toe along the rocks. “I’m not sure.” He paused. “You think what he said was true?”
It was a measure of how worried Variam must be that he was asking something like that. “I think he was saying whatever he thought would make us unhappiest.”
“Doesn’t mean he was wrong.”
“‘The evil that men do lives after them; the good is oft interred with their bones.’”
Variam looked askance at me. “If you’re trying to make me feel better, you’re doing a really shitty job.”
“Jagadev did precious little good and a lot of evil,” I said. “But what he did to Anne might end up being worse than everything else put together. Richard and Morden handed Anne that jinn, but Jagadev and Sagash put her on the path that led there.”
“And now Jagadev’s dead, we know where she’s going next.”
I nodded. “It’s going to be hard to stop her.”
“It’s not her going after Sagash I’m worried about.”
—
I waited for Variam to gate back to England, then took out a gate stone for a journey of my own. Once I was in an area with mobile coverage, I took out a phone and dialled. It rang for a while before there was a click and a rumbling voice answered. “Yeah.”
“It’s me,” I said.
“So?”
“I ran into her again. Had to disengage.”
“You didn’t tell me.”
“She’s not giving me much notice.”
“You a diviner or not?”
When Variam had asked why I didn’t get rid of Rachel, I told him the truth, but not the whole truth. The mage on the other end of the line was called Cinder, and he had reasons of his own for wanting Rachel alive. “Last time we spoke, you wanted me to find Deleo,” I said. “Have her come after me while you were there, so that she’d have to deal with you first.”
“And?”
“I’m not sure how well that’s going to work.”
“We had a deal.”
“We still do, but I’m warning you, she has really gone off the deep end. If you get in between the two of us, I don’t think it’s going to end the way you’re hoping.”
“My problem, not yours.” There was a note of finality in Cinder’s voice. “You going to do it?”
I sighed. “I’ll do it.”
Cinder hung up, and I lowered the phone with a grimace. Rachel wasn’t my biggest problem—she wasn’t even in the top five—but she was an extra complication I really didn’t need. I wasn’t sure I could afford to deal with her on top of everything else.
But Cinder was one of the very few allies I had left, and that meant I’d have to figure out some way to keep him happy. And on the subject of problems, I had another phone call coming up, one that was going to be a lot more unpleasant than the last. Time to get ready.
—
I staked out the forest clearing that I’d chosen for the conversation, taking the necessary precautions. It was hard to remember that once upon a time I’d been able to call someone up without taking an hour to make sure I wouldn’t be traced or killed in the process. Once I was done I took out my communicator, did a last double check through the futures, and channelled through it. “Hello, hello,” I said into the focus. “Testing, one two three.”
There was a pause, then a familiar voice sounded through the communicator. “Hello, Mage Verus,” Talisid said. “Yes, I can hear you perfectly well.”
I couldn’t see Talisid—the focus was audio only—but I could imagine him, dressed neatly in a business suit, balding and serious-looking. I’d known Talisid for a long time and, for most of that time, we’d been on the same side. That wasn’t true anymore.
“Hi, Talisid,” I said. “Listen, I know it’s been a while, and I’d love to stop and chat, but I don’t think it’s the best time to catch up. So could you put your bosses on?”
“That won’t be necessary.”
“Please don’t take this personally, but I’d rather not go through an intermediary on this one.”
“I’m acting as the Council’s representative in this matter.”
“For God’s sake, Talisid,” I said. “Every single one of the Senior Council is sitting there listening to this conversation live right now. Can you stop wasting my time and just put them on?”
“I’m afraid that’s not possible.”
I swore silently. If Talisid wasn’t going to budge, that was a very bad sign.
“I understand you had some information you wanted to offer?” Talisid asked when I didn’t reply.
“You think that’s why I’m calling?”
“I was under the impression that you were hoping to present your side of the story,” Talisid said. “I may have been mistaken.”
“Talisid, your bosses tried, convicted, and sentenced me while I wasn’t even there,” I said. “They waited for me to leave the War Rooms, then passed a resolution authorising me to be brought in dead or alive. They have made it abundantly clear how much they care about hearing my side of the story.”